The new superstrong

In today's market for high performance fibers, used for applications such as bulletproof vests, manufacturers have only four options: Kevlar, Spectra, Dyneema, and Zylon. Made from polymers such as polyethylene, these were ...

Researchers unravel mysteries of spider silk

(Phys.org)—Scientists at Arizona State University are celebrating their recent success on the path to understanding what makes the fiber that spiders spin – weight for weight - at least five times as strong as piano wire. ...

Hagfish slime as a model for tomorrow's natural fabrics

Nylon, Kevlar and other synthetic fabrics: Step aside. If new scientific research pans out, people may be sporting shirts, blouses and other garments made from fibers modeled after those in the icky, super-strong slime from ...

New treatments could reduce odors in cotton fabric

Socks, T-shirts and other garments could become less hospitable to odor-causing bacteria, thanks to new antimicrobial treatments being investigated by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists in New Orleans, La.

Cotton's potential for padding nonwovens

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have conducted studies to investigate the use of virgin cotton in nonwoven materials and products. The work was led by cotton technologist Paul Sawhney and his colleagues at ...

Why spiders don't drop off of their threads

It has five times the tensile strength of steel and is stronger then even the best currently available synthetic fibers: Spider thread. German scientists of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen and the Universitaet Bayreuth ...

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